Feb. 09--Community High School District 155 agreed Monday to pay $273,000 in fees to a lawyer who successfully sued the district over the controversial bleachers at Crystal Lake South High School.
The figure was less than the $317,000 that attorney Tom Burney had sought from the district for representing homeowners next to Crystal Lake South who sued and eventually helped force the school to tear down the large bleachers last year.
The settlement -- which officials said will be paid through a district insurance policy, not directly by taxpayers -- is another step toward resolving a conflict that began when the school erected the nearly 50-foot-tall bleachers in 2013 without notice to neighbors or city approval. Because it lost the case, the school district was obliged to pay the victors' legal fees.
"I'm content. ... It's just time to bring it all to an end," said Burney, who agreed to a reduction in his usual hourly rate from $400 to $350 an hour.
Robert Swain, a school district attorney, said Monday that "concessions" were made on both sides and that he is "happy to have it resolved." He had previously questioned Burney's request, noting that his own law firm charged a reduced rate of $190 to $210 an hour to represent the district. Swain's firm ended up charging the district a higher figure -- more than $300,000 -- which school officials said would also be paid by their insurance.
The neighbors filed suit after the bleachers -- much larger and closer to the property line than the ones they replaced -- were installed in 2013. The residents said the stands hurt their property values and reduced their quality of life, and city leaders said the school district flouted local zoning laws.
School district attorneys long argued that they were not obliged to follow such local laws. They appealed the case to the state Supreme Court but lost each round in court.
Eventually, the so-called mega-bleachers were torn down, and just last week the Crystal Lake City Council approved plans to replace them with stands that are close in height to the original.
The city also racked up considerable legal fees battling over the bleachers: Victor Filippini, an attorney for the city, said his firm logged about 1,200 hours and billed the city about $250,000, which he said was based on a reduced rate.
That money will come from Crystal Lake's general fund because there is no legal mechanism by which the city can seek to have its legal fees paid by the school district, Filippini said.
But he did point to another avenue the city could pursue -- the enforcement of daily fines imposed against the district.
The city has been tallying, but has not collected, fines against the district of $6,000 per day for city zoning violations and for the district disobeying a city-issued stop-work order.
"The issue has impacted taxpayers directly," Filippini said. "It's interesting the entire dispute is the result of the actions of District 155. They didn't do the things they should have been doing ... and the citizens of Crystal Lake are among the people that are paying."
The taxpayers of Crystal Lake are "now carrying the burden" of the school district's "improper actions," he said. "...That is where, I think, the real unfortunate part of this is."
Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley said the fines have reached a "staggering" $5.5 million, though he said the city does not intend to impose them in full because that would just be another blow to local taxpayers.
"The intention of the city of Crystal Lake is not now, nor has it ever been, to punish the school district board or residents of the school district for the bad behavior of the board," the mayor said.
He did say, however, that the city "want(s) to be made whole. We want our costs covered."
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
